Influencing Our Mind, Influencing Our Body

This morning I went for a run. Just around the block yet quite an achievement for a non-runner who is up to day 12 of running.

The muscles in my legs were soooo heavy! The feet were like lumps of concrete and it was a bit cold outside too. I gave myself an 'out' at the top corner to turn around and head for home instead.

****WAIT A MINUTE****

You know that mind/body system that influences EVERYTHING? Anybody trained in systems theory will tell you that if a part of that system is altered - broken or even fixed, the whole system will change. Like a car missing a wheel, or a gear box, that car is unable to work properly. Like your laptop is missing the letter 'e', you hav(e) difficulty typing. The human body is a complete system, a complete unit.

There are a couple of different terms for the system – Mind/Body Connection may be a bit woo woo for you, but perfect for others. Biohacking is the trendy term for altering the human system. And then there is the Cybernetic Loop - a wonderfully scientific sounding term complete with a diagram that appeals to the more geeky types. (Sometimes the Cybernetic Loop is called the Mercedes Model – I am an Audi girl myself). All of these terms are about the same thing! They are about the human body as a ‘whole’ and as a system. 

What they are NOT about is that the body has individual parts existing by themselves.

So what? So lots!

Pick the term that you prefer, but take note of what they all do, what they all refer to and why every single one of those terms and models make a difference to how you can influence and run your body and mind as an easily working system.

With that in mind you see how your thinking affects your emotions which affect your physical state. And vice versa. So you can think yourself into having a great day. You can also think yourself into have a rotten one. You know those ‘bad hair’ days. Maybe you can say that you got out of bed on the wrong side. Everything seems to go more and more wrong on those days. (My mother used to send me back, to get out on the other side instead. I had to pretend because there was a wall on the other side).

You can have emotions and beliefs that colour your experiences for good or bad. Something can trigger you into a downward spiral of grief, or drama – it can be anything that reminds an unconscious part of you of a previously formed memory or belief that has emotion attached to it. An empty wine bottle in a random place used to affect me greatly. Maybe it is a certain look that somebody gives you that can set in motion the emotion. Conversely you can be triggered into remembering a wonderful experience – a song can take you back to a carefree time when you were relaxed and happy. 70’s/80’s music does that for me. A long anticipated phone call can lift your spirits.

And you can create within your physiological body, the conditions that make you feel like the world is a dreadful place. Posture, where you look, how deeply or quickly you breathe, even the internal voice and story that appears in your head. Pain for example can make you feel alone and lonely, grumpy, sad, afraid, small, hopeless. A squashed little finger is not just a squashed finger. The whole hand hurts. The arm. Your gut can feel ill, you can feel like fainting even, and you can start to feel sorry for yourself, becoming short tempered with others for hours afterwards.

Making an alteration to the mind, the physiology or the emotion will have a knock on effect. It also explains how treating just the symptom without taking into consideration the rest of the system (body and mind) is missing the link to full and complete health. How one thing can lead to another. The phenomena of 'polypharmacy' where one medication causes something else to happen, seemingly unrelated. Blood pressure medication may lead to fatigue and lack of enthusiasm and vigour. So the treatment is altered, often added to, and so on.

Believe it or not, you have control of your mind/body system, should you choose to use that control. It is your very own super power!

So what on earth was I trying to communicate to my poor body trying it's best to take me on that run? That it is was not doing very well? That is was heavy, dragging, not performing?

How NOT USEFUL was that!!!!! Time to practice what I preach.

Our thoughts influence our body and our body influences our thoughts and right at that moment I wasn't using that strategy for any good at all.

So I imagined that my muscles were like springs, that they were very 'springy' and ready to bounce along. I reminded my feet that they only had a pair of running shoes which were as light as air. I felt my happy heart pumping efficiently. I sent my heart gratitude for working so well and encouraged it to send happy blood around my body, knowing that health would be the outcome.

I can honestly say that the turn back corner came and went and in no time I was home again, having completed the run.

The instant I changed my thinking, my physiological response changed as well as did the emotion I had towards the experience.

And this is partly how I coach you if you are struggling with health challenges, surgical procedures, fear of something or not living your true vital self. 

Using the cybernetic/biohacking/mind/body theory, you can change the response you have to life and the experiences within life so that you are not so mentally, physically or emotionally affected OR so that you are mentally, physically or emotionally in control. Empowered.

Clever? Useful? Significant! OF COURSE IT IS!

And utterly there for you to do. It is absolutely under your own control. Try it out.